


Oh, you're almost home

by Opal_Lakes



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brotherly Bonding, Drabble, Family Bonding, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, Good Brother Luther Hargreeves, Invisible 3rd wheel of his dead boyfriend, M/M, Music, One Shot, Title from a Pilo Kiley song, We don't hate Luther here that shtick is old and tired, Wholesome, cause music heals the soul and maybe some unresolved trauma if we're lucky, over MUSIC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-20 02:21:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20667713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Opal_Lakes/pseuds/Opal_Lakes
Summary: Klaus plays some music, Luther does some chores, Dave is the invisible third wheel through all of this.





	Oh, you're almost home

There was a steady beat coming from Klaus’ room, a rhythmic thumping of music that normally would have been silenced by Klaus’ door if it was closed, but the door was slightly ajar, open enough for Luther to notice the loud beat from his own room. He ignored it for the most part, turning back to organizing his wardrobe, packing away his old, average-sized clothes that would never fit him now, replacing them with the fresh, more comfortable outfits Allison bought for him. She had always had better taste then him, and Luther didn’t think he could go out to shop for himself just yet, so letting Allison run off to buy him a new wardrobe was an easy decision, even if it did mean wearing that light pink sweater she insisted would look nice on him.

The first four songs were nice, old songs that Luther had on records that bought a smile to his face as he carefully folding up his old Umbrella Academy uniform and tucked it into the trash bag next to him. Despite everything, he still didn’t want to get rid of it, but it was suppose to be healing, and Luther thought that it was worth a shot. If it didn’t work, he could always grab it from the dumpster outside before it was too late and stash it under his bed.

The fifth song came on suddenly with a loud crash of drums, the music so loud and manic it seemed to shake the walls and Luther couldn’t stop himself from wincing. He waited for a moment, lips pursed before sighing, pushing aside the rest of his wardrobe onto the floor as he climbed to his feet.

The music was just as loud in the hallway, and Luther was thankful that the two of them were the only ones in the house at that moment. Luther wondered if Klaus even knew he was home because based on how disruptive and…scream-y the music was, probably not.

“Klaus?” Luther spoke, but the words were lost in the noise as he pushed open Klaus’ door more, poking his head in to survey the room. It was still the same cluttered disorganised mess that Klaus’ room always was, though it did appear more liveable, but Luther could blame that on Diego and Vanya cleaning out his room of all the old bottles and leftover drugs that used to take up so much space.

Klaus was on his bed, laying on his stomach and waving his legs in the air as he tapped away at his phone -a gift from Diego after Klaus reached two months of sobriety, because he was still the only one (besides Five) who didn’t have a phone and it was driving Diego crazy. Luther knocked on the door loudly. Klaus jumped, tensing as his head jerked in the direction of the noise before he calm down when he finally spotted Luther. He flashed Luther a brilliant smile and flapped his hand at him in greeting.

He pushed himself up, shifting until he was sitting up and folded his lanky legs until finally settling down “Hey Space!”

“You think you could turn it down?” Luther pointed a thick finger towards Klaus’ phone and Klaus held up his hands in surrender.

“Aw, Sorry Bruder” He has a cheeky smile on his face, but did as he’s told, turning down the music until it’s nothing more than a soft murmur of crashing drums and screeching guitars “I didn’t realize you were home.”

“I figured” Luther looked at the drawings that lined Klaus’ rooms, tapping his fingers against his door, and it should have been that, but Luther hadn’t really spoken to any of his siblings today, hadn’t had a real conversation with Klaus for longer, who looked so carefree and happy despite the chaos around him “What are you doing?”

“Oh?” Klaus’ eyes lit up before tilting his head to the side to his headboard, and smiled “Showing Dave some of my favourite songs.”

Luther instinctively looked to the other end of the bed, despite knowing he wouldn’t see anyone there. Klaus had mention Dave briefly, mostly talking about him to Diego and Vanya, and only mentioning Dave by name when he would get caught talking to him. Luther didn’t like to talk to Klaus because it was uncomfortable for the both of them; Klaus struggling to talk about Dave without getting all sad and wishful, and Luther not knowing how to talk to his brother about his lost love. It was better for them to avoid the subject and the awkwardness altogether.

Luther figured it would be rude to simply turn around and walk away at that point though.

“Does he like them?”

Klaus froze, looking up from his phone to blink at Luther slowly before a grin took over his face“He says I have the best taste!”

Luther raised an eyebrow “Did he?”

Klaus pauses this time, glancing over to the side before shrugging “He likes most of them, which is good enough considering he was born before electricity was invented.”

A second of silence passed before Klaus threw his head back with a laugh and Luther was painfully aware of how much of a third wheel he felt at that moment. He shuffled awkwardly as Klaus calm down, laughter dissolving into a slight snicker as he stared at the empty spot in front of him with a soft smile. He tilted his head, face melting into a pinched frown but he was quiet for a moment, staring at the spot thoughtfully. Eventually he sighed, shoulders slumping as he turned to Luther, fiddling with his phone, the glitter in his cheap plastic phone case flying around wildly as he twisted it in his hands.

“You should play some of your records for Dave, you guys would probably have a similar taste in music.”

Luther spared a glance at the space at the end of the bed, still as empty as it was when he walked in “You think?”

Klaus nodded, eyes flicking back and forth from Dave to Luther momentarily “Been a while since you’ve busted out your records anyway.”

“Didn’t want to make too much noise” Luther shrugged, and that was true; ever since they narrowly avoided the apocalypse Luther felt like he was taking too much room, a big looming shadow that still made Vanya flinch when he went and the other shuffle away out of uncertainty. He knew the others still didn’t completely trust him after everything that had happened and Luther was more comfortable not drawing to much attention these days.

“Lame, you should take a note from my book and stop giving a shit. ‘Sides, you’re the only straight guy with good music taste, so why not flaunt it?”

Luther shifted uncomfortably as Klaus snickered “Yeah, maybe I’ll play some records soon.”

Klaus clapped his hands, beaming a wide grin “Wunderbar! Maybe I can work my magic and Dave can make a special appearance.”

“Oh!” Luther couldn’t pretend he wasn’t curious about Klaus and his mysterious dead boyfriend. Luther still struggled thinking of Dave as a real person despite seeing photos of him and Klaus during the war, seeing Klaus talking and laughing at thin air and Luther still struggled to silence that angry little voice in his head telling him that Klaus is just looking for attention. “It would be nice to finally meet him.”

Klaus nodded, hands clasped tightly on the dog tags, running his thumb against Dave’s name “Can make him corporeal for almost 20 minutes now, we’ve been practicing! Just give me a few more weeks and you’ll be so sick of seeing Ben and Dave you’re going to beg for me to stop.”

Luther rolled his eyes but held no malice “Just maybe keep to volume down?”

“Ich höre dich, anything for my dear brother.”

Luther huffed, backing out from Klaus’ room and pulling the door closed behind him, leaving it open just slightly before lumbering back to his room. He nudged open the door, kicking it close behind him and return to his spot on the floor among the messy piles of clothes. He pulled out the last of his uniform, the black fabric worn and old and felt stiff in his hands as he tugged it onto his lap. He stared down on it sadly, fists curling into the fabric tightly as something bitter sat heavily in his gut.

Music began to play from down the hall, the harsh beat and vocals from the last song replaced with a soft melody, gentle strumming of instruments and the slow singing of a man.

Luther paused, lifting his head to listen; he didn’t recognize the music, but it was nice and calming and Luther found himself swaying timidly to the rhyme as he turned back to his closet. He looked down at the beaten uniform on his lap, something that he treasured in his younger years now scrunched up in his grip, and threw it into the garbage bag by his legs with everything else and tied it off before kicking it into the corner of his room. He picked up the rest of his new clothes, tags still dangling from their labels, as he got to work folding them neatly before settling them down in his now empty wardrobe, letting the music fill his room.

He should ask Klaus to show him some of his favourite songs sometime.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! It's my birthday!
> 
> I'm 22 and feeling achy as shit but what else is new pffft
> 
> I just wanted to post something nice and wholesome today tbh and I've had this sitting in unfinished drabble hell for months. Tbh I have a lot of nice family moment between Klaus and Luther solely because I love when Klaus calls Luther Space in the comics, probs wouldn't in the comics with, ya know, all that space trauma, but it works in fanfics so :>
> 
> Totally unbeta'd so BIG sorry for any major mistakes! I went through this three times but dyslexia is a lil rat bastard and sometimes mistakes are inevitable and I didn't wanna bug my gf to beta when we have plans sooo
> 
> All kudors and readers are greatly appreciated, and those that comment will only fuel my fragile ego ♥


End file.
